The Belfast Group connected a new generation of poets and writers
from Northern Ireland.

Meeting at Philip Hobsbaum’s house in the shadow of Queen’s University, the Group read and commented on the drafts of each others’ poems, plays, and stories. Notable members of the Group included Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, and Michael Longley. Read drafts from these poets and others.

Interactive networks and digitized drafts of poetry
make the Belfast Group's connections visible.

After the Group stopped meeting in 1972, many participants downplayed its importance to their writing, but by graphing the interactions among the members of the Group—in poems or letters—we can better understand the relationships created during the writing workshop.